A Site I Love – And a DIY Chandelier Upgrade

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One of my favorite places to visit for DIY inspiration is Remodelaholic. It’s always interesting to see what Cass and Justin are working on in their project houses. I love that they are all about the “re” – repurposing, reusing, reclaiming. I especially enjoy their retro remodels. And their contributors and guest bloggers bring so much variety and creativity to the table.

Writing a new post for Remodelaholic about my master bathroom meant looking at it with fresh eyes. When I step into my master bathroom, I tend to see the big picture: The natural light, the airiness,

and the sweet little black cat who is drawn to the room’s heated floor.

Priscilla ignoring her human while soaking up the heat

But in writing the post, I focused on the details again. And one tiny detail still bothered me.

Plain Chain

I love our beautiful Spanish chandelier. But I was recently in an antique store where all of their chandeliers had silk sleeves covering their chains. They made the chandeliers look so elegant and substantial.

So then the chain on our chandelier started to bug me. Some chandelier chains are ornate, but this one is nothing special.

Yes, I really climbed a ladder with my nice camera to get this photo.

A Budget Fix

A chandelier chain sleeve can cost upwards of $25. But yesterday I made my own for 80 cents. Here is how I did it.

Materials

A piece of fabric that is 7 inches wide and twice the length of the chain to be covered

Matching thread

Thin twine or yarn

Scissors/sewing machine/tape measure/pins and a needle

The How-To

My method is an adaptation of a method I found here. The chain has an electrical cord running through it, which I made sure was in good condition before covering it with fabric.

I chose a silver fabric with an elegant, silky texture. My chain was 17 inches long, so I needed fabric with at least a 34-inch width, which was easy to find. I had the fabric store cut me just a quarter yard of the fabric. It was on sale – which is why I only paid 80 cents. All other materials I had on hand.

I cut the fabric to size – 7 inches wide and 34 inches long.

I machine hemmed each short end of the fabric.

Then I cut two 40-inch pieces of twine. I wanted the pieces of twine to be longer than the length of the fabric.

Then I made a half-inch fold on each long side of the fabric, placed the twine inside the fold, and pinned it, creating a pocket for the twine. The photo below better explains it.

Then I sewed the pockets closed with a sewing machine, making sure not to sew over the twine.

I made sure that a little bit of twine was extending past the ends of the fabric at all times. It’s no fun at all if the twine gets lost inside the pocket of the fabric.

Then I held the ends of the twine and scrunched the fabric together until it was 17 inches – the length of the chain.

Then the fun really started. I climbed up on a ladder with this scrunched piece of fabric and, using the twine, tied one end to the top of the chain and the other end to the bottom. Then as best I could, I scrunched the fabric around the chain. It took a little tweaking to get it just right, but it really wasn’t difficult.

I cut away the excess twine.

Then I repositioned the ladder so I could put in some hand stitches to bring the seams together. I made stitches in about five places along the length of the sleeve to close it up.

I stitched in about five places to hold the two seams together in the back of this chandelier sleeve.

I made sure the stitched seams faced the back of the room so they aren’t easily seen. But even so, it does’t really look that bad – certainly better than the chain.

Finished!

Here is how it looks from the front.

Just the little finishing touch the room needed.

Hmm, now the light bulbs are starting to bug me. But that is for another day.

Now remember, this post is for entertainment purposes only. I try some stupid stunts sometimes, so any attempts at overhead stitching while teetering on a ladder are at your own peril.

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